Basel with a 3-0 victory, a goal by Stocker early, and 2 by Streller late see the Basel side through. Salzburg is up next.
The match had a preview on BBC World Service's 'Sport Today' programme (albeit from an entirely austrian perspective) Well, it's a start! NB: The english media usually lump Austria & Switzerland together, as do er.... ;-)
Full Time - 0:0 I think Basel can live with this result (i.e. not conceding an away goal). This is a strong Salzburg side and I can see why Ajax struggled against them. In particular Mane with his speed impressed me. Delgado looks like a miss-transfer at this stage. I hate to say it but the UAE league brought his level down.
Congrats on advancing to the 1/4 finals (despite playing with 10 men for almost the whole game) against the "beloved" retort team from Salzburg.
Basel now vs Valencia (where Senderos is injured) Valencia are currently 8th in the Liga, but 8 points behind the 7th Sevilla and only 8 points ahead of relegation interesting draw and maybe not as bad to play abroad the 2nd match
Great win for Basel. Valencia should be a really interesting match. I read that Salzburg had not lost at home for over 30 matches in a row.
Salzburg had not lost for 60 matches in total including a 3-0 friendly win over Bayern Munich... but then, what counts are the goals. And maybe it was the international experience which gave Basel the edge. Salzburg just looked bad at both corners when Basel scored.
Basel punished by UEFA and has to play their UEFA Europa League quarter-final home leg withValencia behind closed doors. Would have made more sense to disallow the Basel fans in the away match. But I guess UEFA wanted to make a statement here and hurt Basel financially for their "fans" wrt to the tie this does not have to be a disadvantage for Basel - it is just a mental thing and Basel should have less trouble motivating themselves for this quarter final, then maybe Valencia
http://www.football-espana.net/40872/pizzi-wants-el-balance Valencia's coach trying to set up the fans for a loss vs Basel.
Delgado scores to put Basel up 1-0. Nice shot. D. Degan drew the ball back to the top of the penalty area from near the corner. Delgado, hammered it into the side netting.
Impressed with Basel. Really thought it's a formality for Valencia with the empty stadium and the injuries. Hope FCB continues to be busy in Europe with less focus on the league.